Sometimes travel facts come in the most unusual places. Yesterday at Arby’s my son received a fold out book on the Eiffel Tower in his kid’s meal. Very cool.

I learned a few things myself by folding the book out. Along with the standard info about the tower, such as when it was built (1889) and how tall it is (1063 feet), there are out of the ordinary details that people may not know.

Here are a few:

There are 18,000 pieces in the tower

Each year four tons of wipes, 10,000 doses of detergent, 25,000 garbage bags and 400 liters of metal cleaning solution are used to keep the tower clean.

It takes 50 tons of paint to repaint it about every five years.

When it was first built a lot of people thought it was ugly. This icon that now represents romance, at least I think it does, was to be torn down after 20 years.